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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 2151b. Population planning and health programs
(a) Congressional declaration of policy
The Congress recognizes that poor health conditions and
uncontrolled population growth can vitiate otherwise successful
development efforts.
Large families in developing countries are the result of complex
social and economic factors which change relatively slowly among
the poor majority least affected by economic progress, as well as
the result of a lack of effective birth control. Therefore,
effective family planning depends upon economic and social change
as well as the delivery of services and is often a matter of
political and religious sensitivity. While every country has the
right to determine its own policies with respect to population
growth, voluntary population planning programs can make a
substantial contribution to economic development, higher living
standards, and improved health and nutrition.
Good health conditions are a principal element in improved
quality of life and contribute to the individual's capacity to
participate in the development process, while poor health and
debilitating disease can limit productivity.
(b) Assistance for voluntary population planning
In order to increase the opportunities and motivation for family
planning and to reduce the rate of population growth, the President
is authorized to furnish assistance, on such terms and conditions
as he may determine, for voluntary population planning. In addition
to the provision of family planning information and services,
including also information and services which relate to and support
natural family planning methods, and the conduct of directly
relevant demographic research, population planning programs shall
emphasize motivation for small families.
(c) Assistance for health programs; special health needs of
children and mothers; Child Survival Fund; promotion of
immunization and oral rehydration; control of AIDS and
tuberculosis
(1) In order to contribute to improvements in the health of the
greatest number of poor people in developing countries, the
President is authorized to furnish assistance, on such terms and
conditions as he may determine, for health programs. Assistance
under this subsection shall be used primarily for basic integrated
health services, safe water and sanitation, disease prevention and
control, and related health planning and research. This assistance
shall emphasize self-sustaining community-based health programs by
means such as training of health auxiliary and other appropriate
personnel, support for the establishment and evaluation of projects
that can be replicated on a broader scale, measures to improve
management of health programs, and other services and supplies to
support health and disease prevention programs.
(2)(A) In carrying out the purposes of this subsection, the
President shall promote, encourage, and undertake activities
designed to deal directly with the special health needs of children
and mothers. Such activities should utilize simple, available
technologies which can significantly reduce childhood mortality,
such as improved and expanded immunization programs, oral
rehydration to combat diarrhoeal diseases, and education programs
aimed at improving nutrition and sanitation and at promoting child
spacing. In carrying out this paragraph, guidance shall be sought
from knowledgeable health professionals from outside the agency
primarily responsible for administering subchapter I of this
chapter. In addition to government-to-government programs,
activities pursuant to this paragraph should include support for
appropriate activities of the types described in this paragraph
which are carried out by international organizations (which may
include international organizations receiving funds under part III
of this subchapter) and by private and voluntary organizations, and
should include encouragement to other donors to support such types
of activities.
(B) In addition to amounts otherwise available for such purpose,
there are authorized to be appropriated to the President
$25,000,000 for fiscal year 1986 and $75,000,000 for fiscal year
1987 for use in carrying out this paragraph. Amounts appropriated
under this subparagraph are authorized to remain available until
expended.
(C) Appropriations pursuant to subparagraph (B) may be referred
to as the "Child Survival Fund".
(3) The Congress recognizes that the promotion of primary health
care is a major objective of the foreign assistance program. The
Congress further recognizes that simple, relatively low cost means
already exist to reduce incidence of communicable diseases among
children, mothers, and infants. The promotion of vaccines for
immunization, and salts for oral rehydration, therefore, is an
essential feature of the health assistance program. To this end,
the Congress expects the agency primarily responsible for
administering subchapter I of this chapter to set as a goal the
protection of not less than 80 percent of all children, in those
countries in which such agency has established development
programs, from immunizable diseases by January 1, 1991. Of the
aggregate amounts made available for fiscal year 1987 to carry out
paragraph (2) of this subsection (relating to the Child Survival
Fund) and to carry out subsection (c) of this section (relating to
development assistance for health), $50,000,000 shall be used to
carry out this paragraph.
(4) Relationship to other laws. - Assistance made available under
this subsection and sections 2151b-2, 2151b-3, and 2151b-4 of this
title, and assistance made available under part IV of subchapter II
of this chapter to carry out the purposes of this subsection and
the provisions cited in this paragraph, may be made available
notwithstanding any other provision of law that restricts
assistance to foreign countries, except for the provisions of this
subsection, the provisions of law cited in this paragraph,
subsection (f) of this section, section 2394-1 of this title, and
provisions of law that limit assistance to organizations that
support or participate in a program of coercive abortion or
involuntary sterilization included under the Child Survival and
Health Programs Fund heading in the Consolidated Appropriations
Resolution, 2003 (Public Law 108-7).
(d) Administration of assistance
(1) Assistance under this part shall be administered so as to
give particular attention to the interrelationship between (A)
population growth, and (B) development and overall improvement in
living standards in developing countries, and to the impact of all
programs, projects, and activities on population growth. All
appropriate activities proposed for financing under this part shall
be designed to build motivation for smaller families through
modification of economic and social conditions supportive of the
desire for large families, in programs such as education in and out
of school, nutrition, disease control, maternal and child health
services, improvements in the status and employment of women,
agricultural production, rural development, and assistance to the
urban poor, and through community-based development programs which
give recognition to people motivated to limit the size of their
families. Population planning programs shall be coordinated with
other programs aimed at reducing the infant mortality rate,
providing better nutrition for pregnant women and infants, and
raising the standard of living of the poor.
(2) Since the problems of malnutrition, disease, and rapid
population growth are closely related, planning for assistance to
be provided under subsections (b) and (c) of this section and under
section 2151a of this title shall be coordinated to the maximum
extent practicable.
(3) Assistance provided under this section shall emphasize
low-cost integrated delivery systems for health, nutrition, and
family planning for the poorest people, with particular attention
to the needs of mothers and young children, using paramedical and
auxiliary medical personnel, clinics and health posts, commercial
distribution systems, and other modes of community outreach.
(e) Research and analysis
(1) Health and population research and analysis carried out under
this chapter shall -
(A) be undertaken to the maximum extent practicable in
developing countries by developing country personnel, linked as
appropriate with private and governmental biomedical research
facilities within the United States;
(B) take account of the special needs of the poor people of
developing countries in the determination of research priorities;
and
(C) make extensive use of field testing to adapt basic research
to local conditions.
(2) The President is authorized to study the complex factors
affecting population growth in developing countries and to identify
factors which might motivate people to plan family size or to space
their children.
(f) Prohibition on use of funds for performance or research
respecting abortions or involuntary sterilization
(1) None of the funds made available to carry out subchapter I of
this chapter may be used to pay for the performance of abortions as
a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to
practice abortions.
(2) None of the funds made available to carry out subchapter I of
this chapter may be used to pay for the performance of involuntary
sterilizations as a method of family planning or to coerce or
provide any financial incentive to any person to undergo
sterilizations.
(3) None of the funds made available to carry out subchapter I of
this chapter may be used to pay for any biomedical research which
relates, in whole or in part, to methods of, or the performance of,
abortions or involuntary sterilization as a means of family
planning.
(g) Authorization of appropriations
(1) There are authorized to be appropriated to the President, in
addition to funds otherwise available for such purposes -
(A) $290,000,000 for fiscal year 1986 and $290,000,000 for
fiscal year 1987 to carry out subsection (b) of this section; and
(B) $205,000,000 for fiscal year 1986 and $180,000,000 for
fiscal year 1987 to carry out subsection (c) of this section.
(2) Funds appropriated under this subsection are authorized to
remain available until expended.
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